Memory - compatible with Asus P4C800-E Deluxe mobo

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Schooler
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Steve Schooler

Wish to find 1 GB memory compatible with:
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Motherboard
(Pentium 4, Socket 478, 875P, ATX, 4GB DDR, 800MHz FSB)

Memory -Dual Channel Memory Architecture
-4 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 4GB PC3200/PC2700/
PC2100 ECC/ Non-ECC DDR SDRAM memory

One recommendation received is

1024MB Kingston Hyper-X DDR500 PC4000 RAM (512MB X 2)

Questions:

1. My understanding is that PC3200 is the same as DDR400, which runs at 400
MHz. However, the user recommendation is DDR500 PC4000. Does DDR500 mean
that it runs at 500 MHz? If so, why is it compatible with a motherboard
expecting PC3200. Also, what does the PC4000 nomenclature mean?

2. If either DDR500 or DDR400 is compatible with the motherboard, does it
make any sense to choose the (presumably more expensive) DDR500? Won't it
be impossible to get 500 MHz memory speed on the Asus P4C800-E, or is it
routinely feasible to "overclock the memory" on this motherboard?

3. In 2-3 years I may wish to keep the motherboard but expand the memory to 4
GB. Consequently, I'm considering buying 1024MB x 1 rather than 512MB x
2. Will this strategy work on this motherboard?

4. Are all DDR400's created equal? Request brand name or website
recommendations? Are all DDR500's created equal? Again, request brand
name or website recommendations?
 
Go to crucial.com and follow their recommendation.
DDR400=PC3200
500 means it's capable of running at 500 MHz not that it does unless the
mobo
supports it. 4000=500x8.
The problem with only one DIMM is that you won't have DDR,
which requires 2 512MB DIMMs. There's a slight speed penalty.
Check Anandtech or Tomshardware for more info.
 
Pen said:
Go to crucial.com and follow their recommendation.
DDR400=PC3200
500 means it's capable of running at 500 MHz not that it does unless the
mobo
supports it. 4000=500x8.
The problem with only one DIMM is that you won't have DDR,
which requires 2 512MB DIMMs. There's a slight speed penalty.
Check Anandtech or Tomshardware for more info.
Click to expand...

With one DIMM you WIIL HAVE DDR, but not dual channel DDR !!! That means
that 2 mem banks are addressed in parallel. Not having this is not a "slight
penalty", as dual channel could increase the mem bandwidth with up to 70 %.
For dual channel, you will need a motherboard (chipset) supporting this
feature, and 2 IDENTICAL memory modules.
For supported modules on your mobo, check the Asus site where you can find a
list.
The only reason to give preference to PC4000 (DDR500) rather than PC3200
(DDR400) is if you want to overclock your system. At FSB of 200 MHz, most
PC3200 modules will run faster than PC4000 due to better cas values (cas 2
or 2.5 versus 3 or more).
Purchasing PC4000 means that you plan to run your system at a fsb speed of
up to 250 MHz, with memory speed ratio of 1:1. Not many systems stay stable
at this speed increase (25%) without other special tuning, essentially
cooling. With much cheaper PC3700, you will run stable at 230 MHz fsb, which
in my opinion is a better choice.
Actual Asus motherboards are excellent and stable in overclocking, as they
have a lot of settings for fsb, mem banks (cas settings and ratio) and
agp/pci speed.
 
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